Hacker News with Generative AI: Astrobiology

Strongest evidence of life yet found on planet beyond solar system (news.sky.com)
Scientists have found what they are calling the strongest sign yet of possible life beyond our solar system after detecting the chemical footprint of gases in an alien planet's atmosphere that on Earth are only produced by living organisms.

Space Exploration, Astronomy, Astrobiology, Exoplanets

11 points by austinallegro 9 days ago | 2 comments

Were our blue oceans once green? (nagoya-u.ac.jp)
Scientists find evidence that our oceans used to be green, suggesting that this may be a sign of primitive life, including that on alien worlds.

Oceanography, Paleontology, Astrobiology, Scientific Discovery

4 points by geox 27 days ago | 0 comments

The Ethics of Spreading Life in the Cosmos (centauri-dreams.org)
We keep trying to extend our reach into the heavens, but the idea of panspermia is that the heavens are actually responsible for us. Which is to say, that at least the precursor materials that allow life to emerge came from elsewhere, and did not originate on Earth.

Space Exploration, Astrobiology, Ethics

42 points by JPLeRouzic 32 days ago | 116 comments

SETI's hard steps and how to resolve them (centauri-dreams.org)
The idea of life achieving a series of plateaus, each of which is a long and perilous slog, has serious implications for SETI.

SETI, Space Exploration, Astrobiology

50 points by JPLeRouzic 63 days ago | 51 comments

Asteroid fragments upend theory of how life on Earth bloomed (nature.com)
Fragments of the asteroid Bennu, carefully collected and ferried to Earth by a robotic spacecraft, contain the building blocks for life, NASA announced today.

Science, Space Exploration, Astrobiology, Asteroids

7 points by rbanffy 85 days ago | 0 comments

Asteroid fragments upend theory of how life on Earth bloomed (nature.com)
Fragments of the asteroid Bennu, carefully collected and ferried to Earth by a robotic spacecraft, contain the building blocks for life, NASA announced today.

Space Exploration, Astrobiology, Life Origins, Asteroids

12 points by mmooss 86 days ago | 3 comments

Can life emerge around a white dwarf? (centauri-dreams.org)
My curiosity about white dwarfs continues to be piqued by the occasional journal article, like a recent study from Caldon Whyte and colleagues reviewing the possibilities for living worlds around such stars.

Astrobiology, White Dwarfs, Stars

147 points by JPLeRouzic 140 days ago | 98 comments

Garden cress and cyanobacteria grow under simulated K dwarf starlight (cambridge.org)

Astrobiology, Botany, Science, Astronomy

5 points by westcort 190 days ago | 0 comments

Signs of two gases in clouds of Venus could indicate life, scientists say (theguardian.com)